Victorian Electronic Records Strategy


VERS STORY	STANDARD	ASSESSMENT	PROJECTS	DIGITAL ARCHIVE	TRAINING	TOOLKIT	PUBLICATIONS

Introduction

Standard
(Version 1)
  Specification 1
  Specification 2
  Specification 3

Standard
(Version 2)
  Specification 1
  Specification 2
  Specification 3
  Specification 4
  Specification 5
  Advice 9
  Advice 10
  Advice 11
  Advice 12
  Advice 13
  Advice 14

Home > Standard > Standard (Version 2) > Advice 9 > Goals of VERS

3 Goals of VERS

The goal of the Victorian Electronic Record Strategy is the cost-effective long-term preservation of electronic records.

As the State archive, PROV is primarily concerned with the preservation of records of permanent value to the State of Victoria. These records will eventually come into PROV custody. The focus of the Standard is therefore on:

the functions that recordkeeping systems in agencies must support in order to preserve electronic records whilst they are being held by the agency
the physical representation of the records when they are exported from an agency to PROV
the mechanisms used to reliably export records from an agency to PROV.

However, it is recognised that agencies holding long-term temporary records will face the same preservation issues as those faced by PROV. PROV consequently recommends that the principles underlying VERS (and many of the requirements and techniques used within VERS) should be used by agencies holding long-term temporary records. A 'long-term' electronic record is considered to be one that:

Will outlive the system that is currently holding the record. Experience has shown that systems holding electronic records will be replaced every five to ten years. A temporary record with a retention period of 90 years (e.g. medical records) could consequently be expected to be held by between nine and eighteen systems over its life.
Will outlive the agency that is currently holding the record. Some agencies, such as Royal Commissions, may have a life-span measured in months. Others, such as the major courts, have a lifespan of over 100 years.

It should be emphasised that records are not only held in formal recordkeeping systems. Many agencies hold records in business applications (for example, plan management systems or a case management system). Such applications are not usually considered to be 'recordkeeping' systems, but the requirements of VERS apply to such systems just as much as they apply to formal recordkeeping systems.

A major change in this version of the Standard has been the emphasis on cost-effective preservation. Poor choice of preservation techniques will add significantly to the cost burden of the agencies or the archive. A particular challenge is to divide the cost burden for preservation between the agency and the archive in an equitable manner.

As an approach, VERS has always been pragmatic. The team developing VERS has always recognised that electronic records are being created now and that it is far better to deploy an adequate solution to allow the preservation of these records than to lose records by waiting until the perfect preservation approach has been developed. Furthermore, it was recognised that perfection can only be achieved through operational experience of preservation systems in both agencies and in archives. This operational experience can only be gained through deployment of systems. VERS has been extremely fortunate in having extensive opportunities to work with users and recordkeeping staff in agencies.

printer friendly